Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-02-07
ANAPpALLlNG DISASTER.
THE RAILWAY STOVE PROVIDES
FEAST OF HORROR.
Frightful Plunge Of Passenger Train
Into Gulf Of Despair
and Death.
ing and Dead Freight, Immediately
Wrapped in Remorseless
and Hungry Flames.

Thirty-FiVe or More Victims, Some of Them
Alive. Roasted in the Sight of the Horror
Struck but Helpless 0n-Lookers Another |
Thirty Five Wounded and Mangied, |
Many Severely, Some Fata1ly-A Story to
Make the Heart Sick.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt, Feb. al
The most appalling railroad disaster which
ever happened in the precincts of New Eng
gland occurred about 230 a. m. Saturday On
the Central Vermont railroad, at the bridge
which crosses the White river in the town of
Hartford, about four miles west Of this
place By it four heavily loaded passenger
cars, filled for the most part with pleasure
seekers Ell route to the Montreal carnival,
were hurled, while running at full speed,
from an open bridge, over and over down
terribly ragged, rocky gorge, seventy feet
into the darkness, striking at last
WITH AN AWFUL CRASH
upon the bleak, barren surface of an ice
bound river, where the souls of forty, and
possibly sixty human beings went out to
their God from the depths of the rushing,
gurgling, freezing water, or in the lurid
glare of fire, and amid the night piercing
shrieks and heartrending groans of thirty to
forty more of Gods creatures, who, if they
| still live, live only to drag out weary ex-
istence, burdened with woe from the loss Of
loved ones, and crippled in body and limb
Truly, 1.-THE ways of Providence are a lit
tie rough" The train selected by myterious
fate for this awful experience was made up
at this junction, bound for Montreal. and
consisted of locomotive, baggage-car, two
ordinary and two sleeping cars These cars
united here constitute the remnant of the
trains known as the Montreal night expresses,
one of which leaves New York ats D. m,
passing Spring Mass, at $ p m, and
the other leaving at Boston at p M and
passing Concord, n. H., at $50 p. m. The
former train passes over the New York, New
Haven & Hartford road to Springfield and
from thence to this point by the Connecticut
River line The latter runs from Boston to
| Concord over the Boston & Lowell road,
thence to this junction by the Central Yer
mont route. One sleeper and one passenger
coach from the New York train, with one
| Chicago sleeper attached here to the Boston
train, which consists then of one sleeper. one
passenger coach and one mail, baggage and
express-car, constituted the Inflated train
| Although nearly an hour and thirty min
utes late, the train started on its lonely
mountain journey, shortly after = am.
thirty or more human beings on board, being
asleep and utterly unconscious of
THE TERRIBLE FATE AWAITING THEM
The engineer, who now wanders about the
scene crazed by the awful consequences
of his trip, had safely taken many a train
over this dangerous route, through the snow
clad mountains of Vermont and eager to
make up lost time so far as possible pulled
| the throttle open and was soon speeding
along the straight four mile stretch west of
| White River Junction at the rate of forty
miles an hour: bus the run of that train was
to be brief. The mercury in the out door
| Thermometers of the brown farm houses
which here and there dotted the landscape
had passed zero and was rapidly going down
among the twenIes, and the clear moonlight
giistened on the frosty surface of the long
snow stretches and lofty mountain craSs, as
the train rounded tue curve to make the run
over " bite Mountain bridge. Just there the
angel Of death appeared towering over that
| train.
WHAT HAPPENED. WHO BLUSDEREpl
! Time alone will foil hrnEan
feet from the bridge is the only witness. Did
a wheel break first, or was that fatal crack
there in the rail before the crash camel The
engine, baggage and mail car passed safely
over the bridge The others suddenly there
was jar and humping of trucks along the
ties. The passenger coaches were off the
tracks, detached from the rest Of the train
and running with tremendous speed upon
the bridge. They reached the first timbers
tore away the abutments, tipped slightly,
and then cars, bridge and eighty human
beings went over and down seventy feet to
wreck and death.
As soon as possible the detached part of
the train was stopped and run back to the
scene. When those on it arrived, the screams
of the injured and suffering were piercing
the air Below, partly on the ice, partly in
the river channel, lay those travelling pal
aces, and the mighty bridge smashed into an
indiscrimiDate heap, out of which the blue
tongues of fame were already leaping like
demon spirits in the mad dance of destruc-
ton. Fiercer and more fierce
RACED TIRE FLAMING BELLOWS
Slowly along the crimson tinted SNOW sheets
nalf naked, benuInbed and bleeding, forms
We're dragging themselves, IN search of
shelter Some dazed but with the instinct
of herolsm still alive, were clearing away
| broken tImbers in an almost superhuman
endeav or to rescue fellow travellers from the
| wreck The groans of half-conscious dying
| victims rose on the wintry air, mingled with
the piercing shrieks and heartrendlns calls
for mercy from those already in the embrace
Of the fend of fire The scene was horrible
beyond all power of tongue or pen, but over
all the pale moon looked silently down. emf
phasizing the awful truth that nature kno VS.
no sympathy or pardon for broken laws.
| fortunately
THE AGONY WAS BRIEF.
Those present were powerless to stop the
flames, and while doing all within their
power to rescue the unfortunate the rescuers
met aLother and dreadful obstacle The
heat became so intense that they were obliged
TO retreat to places OF safety for themselves
and become unwilling and horror-stri ckeu
witnesses of the awful holocast. In addition
to this the weather was intensely, cold and
the heroic rescuers were hindered thereby
in their work Before a relief train arrived
from this place the entire wreck, bridge aud
all, was consumed, and over forty Of that
happy train load of pleasure-seskers wsre IL
the embrace of death.
| HELP SENT FORWARD
A brakeman who jumped from the train
when it fxst left the track got team from &
( farmer and drove to this place where he nosi-
| fed the RAILWAY officials and shnr.tIu a r.eIai